An Approach to Ontology Mapping Negotiation

Ontology mapping negotiation aims to achieve consensus among real-world entities about the process of transforming information between different models (ontologies). This paper describes a novel approach for ontology mapping negotiation, in which agents representing the real-world entities are able to achieve consensus among agents, about the mapping rules defined between two different ontologies. The proposed approach is based on utility functions that evaluate the confidence in a certain mapping rule. According to the confidence value, the mapping rule is accepted, rejected or negotiated. Since the negotiation process requires relaxation of the confidence value, a metautility function is applied, evaluating the effort made in relaxing (increasing) the confidence value, so that the mapping rule might be accepted. This convergence value is further applied by each agent in the evaluation of the global agreement.